In many different situations, luck is simply opportunity meeting preparation. In paintball, opportunities are created when your opposing force becomes vulnerable. Preparation is reducing your own vulnerabilities and defining tactics and strategies that reduce the probability of the opponent taking advantage of your vulnerabilities.
In the game of paintball, players may fire several hundred paintballs in a matter of minutes. Covering avenues of egress effectively so as to dissuade opposing teammates from attack may require a consistent barrage of paintballs. The amount of this type of coverage is limited by the amount of paintballs available to the player. In some settings, a large hopper may provide an adequate supply but the larger hopper increases the target profile for the opposing force. A smaller hopper reduces the user's target profile but limits the number of paintballs a player has available to his or her disposal. The capacity of any system can be increased by using an external cartridge to reload the base unit with additional paintballs. The use of cartridges allows the user to gain the benefit of a decreased target profile while still maintaining the high volume of coverage.
In utilizing the base unit-cartridge combination, the depleted base unit must be refreshed with additional paintballs. First, both the base unit to be refilled and the cartridge holding fresh paintballs must be opened, which generally consists of opening a lid to both units. Next, the contents of the cartridge are dumped into the base unit. Finally, the lid to the base unit is closed and the depleted cartridge is discarded for collection after the game is completed. This process may be repeated numerous times throughout the course of a game. If the game consists of several rounds, the cartridges may be refilled in between rounds for continued use. Reloading the base unit provides the user with additional paintballs but also makes the user vulnerable to attack during the refilling process.
During reloading, the user's resources must be divided between the game and the reloading process. First, the reloading process may require the use of two hands to open the hopper and cartridge. Second, the user must partially divert his or her attention away from the game to the reloading process. A user who focuses too much on the reloading process may open himself or herself to attacks from other players while players focusing too much on the game may spill and waste a significant portion of their paintballs thereby increasing the frequency of reloading sessions. Depending on the complexity of the system, problems may also arise from components in the system failing. Increasing the complexity of the system increases the probability of component failure. Third, the time it takes to refill the hopper is also time that an avenue of egress remains uncovered by suppression fire. The player is also left effectively defenseless; opposing forces may capitalize on this time and make significant advances. Furthermore, the use of a hopper with a lid requires that the user ensure that the lid is closed before engaging in high-intensity activities. Failure to properly close the hopper may result in paintballs falling out of the hopper thereby decreasing the number of balls available for attack. Therefore there is a need for a quick, simple device to provide paintballs to a paintball marker that requires a minimum of interaction between the player and the paintball marker and that does not require a lid.